SHENANIGAN'S BACK IN THE FINALS

Daily Playoff Recaps This article comes to you from the sunny decks of the Carnival Inspiration. I'm here having a great time with my daughter Lillian, nephew Dev, and niece Trinity. If you haven't taken a cruise before then I suggest you try it sometime in the near future. It's a great way to get away from the hustle bustle of every day city life. Speaking of hustle and bustle, the field was full of action last week as four of the best teams the league has to offer began their best of five semi final series. The defending champion Shenanigans took on the very hungry Nexus squad while Makepeace battled the George Pratt club. Game one was played on Tuesday with Shenanigan's squeaking out a 5-4 nail biter. The difference in the game was Luis Colon's sacrifice fly that scored Steve Stalcup in the bottom of the seventh which gave them a come-from-behind victory over Nexus in their series opener. Pitcher Mike Hoadley picked up the win, holding Nexus scoreless over the final five innings after allowing one run in the first and three in the second. Joey Venuti, immediately back in the saddle following a doubleheader against Quencher Tavern the night before, pitched his third complete game in two days. Amazingly, he allowed only three earned runs on six hits in taking the tough loss. Before Colon ended it in the seventh, they would have to watch Nexus jump out to a 4-0 lead. Steve Couturier started the scoring in the first when he tripled and scored on a sharp single by Tony King. Hoadley struck out the next two batters to end the inning. The boys in black and gold extended the lead in the second on two-out hits by Venuti (hard triple to right center) and Charlie Conners (RBI double). Following an infield throwing error which allowed Couturier and Conners to reach second and third respectively, Robbie Rogers punched a clutch single up the middle that scored both for a 4-0 Nexus lead. However, that would be the last run Hoadley and Shenanigans would allow and the game was still young. In the bottom of the second, Shenanigans got on the board on a sacrifice fly by Al Martin but then both pitchers locked down the offense and the score would stay that way until Dan Brown's towering two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, 4-3. In the seventh, Nexus was looking for the always important insurance run and had two runners on but failed to plate either of them. In Shenanigan's half, pinch hitter John Smith lead off with a shot to center field that speedy Charlie Conners couldn't corral. Smith ended up on second. Following a ground out, Steve Stalcup reached on an error that plated the tying run and allowed Stalcup to get all the way to third base. After an intentional base-on-balls was issued to Mike Hoadley (setting up a possible double play), Colon, who had been robbed of an extra base hit by Conners in the fourth, delivered the deciding blow with a sacrifice fly to center. For the second night in a row, Shenanigan's rallied in the late innings to steal another victory from the snake bitten Nexus squad. It was Dan Brown again who led off the top of the sixth off with a solo homerun to left center to tie the game, 4-4. Joe Cavaleri then followed with a double down the left field line and scored on a John Smith's RBI single which turned out to be the winner here in game two. The loss ruined a valiant effort by M Street veteran pitcher John Gregorio (30+ years at M Street), who might have pitched his best game in three years. He seemed to have a little book on how to pitch to each hitter and was executing his plan masterfully. Unfortunately, he was lifted in the fifth inning for Venuti who was very sharp in game one but may have fired all of his guns earlier in the week. Sam Acevedo got the win for Shenanigans as he scattered six hits while yielding just three earned runs. Trailing by a run in the seventh, Nexus thought they had something brewing when Steven Couturier ripped into an Acevedo offering and sent the ball to deep center. But center fielder John Hoadley was positioned perfectly and took away a sure triple. Nexus then went down quietly and were now down two games to none. Wednesday's late game saw the other semi final series between Makepeace and the George Pratt Club get underway. This one didn't follow the script and what was expected as Makepeace took advantage of a team that became unglued after a few missed calls as they cruised to a 13-6 victory. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first, Makepeace watched the Pratt Club roar back to tie it in the second but that would be as close as the game would get. In the big fourth inning, Makepeace batted around the order and got key RBI hits from Joe Claudio, Matt Fornier, and Jose Ortiz. A two-out error led to three additional runs in the inning as the game quickly got away from the very frustrated Pratt Club. Overshadowing what should have been an enjoyable game to play and watch was the negative antics of a handful of Pratt players. Instead of focusing on the difficult task of beating one of the league's elite teams and pitchers (Jimmy Pinkston), they kept after the umpire (who might not have had his best game) to the point where it became very unsportsmanlike. As a result, one of their most talented players will be serving a two game suspension for his actions. The league and ASA commissioner (Joe Alfonse) acted swiftly in their handling of the situation and would like to remind players that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. After the action was completed on Wednesday the playoffs took a long break as it dealt with both Labor Day weekend and several rain filled nights. In fact, it would be nine days between games which didn't help Nexus or the George Pratt Club when both series resumed last Friday. With his sights on getting his team back into the finals, pitcher Mike Hoadley scattered seven hits, and drove in two runs batting, leading Shenanigans to a 9 - 3 series-clinching victory over Nexus. Shenanigans took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, plating an unearned run off of hard-working Joey Venuti. Dan Brown's two-out triple (first of two opposite-field three-baggers for Brown) scored Hoadley, who had reached on an error. The defending champs upped it to 2-0 in the second when John Hoadley tripled and then scored on Al Martin's sacrifice fly. After shaving the lead to 2-1 in the third, another fielding miscue by Nexus (the third in four innings) allowed Steve Stalcup to come to the plate with two on and two out. He did not disappoint his teammates, lacing a double to score both runners. Stalcup took third on the throw, and then scored on a bang-bang infield single from Hoadley. It was a tight call, but 5-1 Shenanigans after four. Nexus rallied in the fifth. A one-out triple by Charlie Conners, a two-out RBI double by Rob Rogers, and a single by Tom King, brought Josh Neeley to the plate as the tying run, but Hoadley snuffed the two-on two-out threat by inducing a grounder to Brown at third, who threw to first to end the inning. The game was put entirely out of reach in the bottom of the sixth, as Shenanigans scored four additional runs on five hits. In the seventh, Rob Rogers hit his second double, good for his second RBI, but it was too little too late. Shenanigans now move on to defend their title against the winner of the George Pratt Club - Makepeace series. With the players of Shenanigans looking on from the stands, fireballing Jimmy Pinkston struck out eight and also flashed some serious leather in a 5-3 Makepeace victory. The win gives Makepeace a commanding two game lead with the series scheduled to continue on Monday (Sep. 12). The Pratt Club got out of the box early in this one as it looked like it might be their night. Pat Sullivan doubled, Pat Dolbeare stroked a triple to score Sullivan, and Kevin O'Hara singled home Dolbeare, for a 2-0 lead after a half-inning. However, control problems allowed Makepeace to quickly knot it up in the bottom half. With two on and two out, three consecutive walks forced in two runs before a grounder ended the inning. Makepeace pulled ahead to stay in the second on station-to-station singles by Ian James, Brian Pacheco, and Joe Claudio, and then a sac fly by Pinkston, 3-2. The next four innings were filled with some truly great glove work by both teams. The bottom of the third saw pitcher Mark Senna showing the reflexes that had made him a top-flight collegiate goalie, as he snared a hard liner back to the box. Not to be outdone, opposing pitcher Pinkston did the same in the fourth, catching a vicious liner by Tim Walsh and then going one better by doubling a runner off of first to end the inning. Bottom of the fourth saw three fine plays from George Pratt fielders - Brad Morrill showing some range in grabbing a fly in left, then Pat Sullivan snaring a shoe top liner at third, followed by Sullivan making another fine play on a short one-hop grounder. In his defensive half, Pinkston came right back with a leaping grab of a high hopper and completed the play to first. That made five plays in a row, between the two teams, where the batters had to believe they were snake bitten! In the bottom of the fifth, Makepeace scored twice. Back-to-back doubles by Pinkston and Jim Innocent, followed by an Angel Andrews single, made it a 5-2 game. Further damage was limited when Adam Ralston made two sensational plays at shortstop, both times ranging far to his right for sharp grounders and making on-target fall-away throws to second for force outs. The former Sidewalk Café team rallied for one in the sixth when Sullivan led off with a triple, then scored on Brad Morrill's hard single to right. However, Makepeace turned a 6-4-3 double play to extinguish any further scoring. In the bottom of the inning, another great defensive play! Pinkston singled with two outs and a runner on second, but Brad Morrill gunned Ian James at the plate to keep the game within two runs going into Pratt's final at bats. The Pratt boys went quietly, though, ending with a K, a grounder to second, and then a soft liner to winning pitcher Pinkston. The George Pratt Club will only take cold comfort from this, but I (Jim Sullivan) feel this was one of the best-played games, defensively, I have ever seen at M Street, and neither team has anything to be ashamed of following this one. If the third game is anything similar, it would be a shame if you missed it. The best of seven finals could possibly be underway by the time this article hits your local newsstands on Thursday. Game time is at 730 and these final remaining games of the season will not disappoint.

Steve Stalcup Luis Colon Mike Hoadley Joey Venuti Steve Couturier Tony King Charlie Conners Rob Rogers Dan Brown John Smith Joe Cavaleri John Gregorio Sam Acevedo Jimmy Pinkston Pat Sullivan Pat Dolbeare Brian Pacheco Jim Innocent